By DAVID GRAY

E ach August, my wife and I tendto recall that 1996 Staples commer-

cial. We laugh as we remember the fatherdancing down the aisle jubilantly tossing

school suppliesin the cart, while

Andy Williams croons, “It’s the mostwonderful time of the year!” in the back-ground. Meanwhile his crestfallen chil-dren mope behind him completely lost as

to the reason for his glee. But the truth isthat I feel conflicted.

I mean, for us the summer schedule isdefinitely much more difficult. With thekids in different activities each week, orworse having no planned activities someweeks, there is no routine at all. We feellike we have to keep them entertained

THIS MONTH @ KEY SCHOOL

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CAMILLA TAFT HICKSPresident

HEIDI BOURGEOISTreasurer

GWEN FITZGERALDAMERINE WOODYARD

Fundraising

VALERIA VIALLASENOR-BRUYEREInternal Affairs

SARA BRYANTCommunications

HEATHER SCHILDGEMembership

WHYTNI KERNODLEANH BOLLESExternal Affairs AUDREY GLYNN

Recording Secretary

FRANCIS SCOTT KEY ELEMENTARY SCHOOL2300 Key Blvd, Arlington, VA 22201703-228-4210 Fax: 703-524-2236 Dr. Marjorie Myers, Principal

THIS MONTH’S TOPIC

All PTA meetings will be held in the Key School Library.

Any changes to dates, times and the location

will be captured on this page and communicated through

the Key PTA Listserv.

2015-2016 PTA Officers

October 5, 2015

Continued on Page 4

Toss the forms, activate ParentVue

INFORMATION & ANNOUNCEMENTS

Let their imaginations fly!The Reflections program is a national PTA arts recognition

and achievement program for students. All students are eligibleto participate! Students submit an original work of art in any ofsix categories – dance choreography, film production, literature,music composition, photography, or visual arts – to illustrate this

year’s theme: “Let Your Imagination Fly!” Reflections projects are due to the col-

lection box in the Key School main office by noon on Thursday,October 15, 2015, but can be submitted anytime before that date.A complete project consists of the student’s work of art AND acompleted entry form. Be sure to review the rules before you sub-mit your project! Additional information can be found athttp://www.apsva.us/Page/27519. Please let us know if you havequestions, comments, or recommendations to improve the KeySchool PTA Reflections program. We can be reached atkeyschoolreflections@gmail.com.

PROGRAM HIGHLIGHT

FIESTAFIESTA

P2 THIS MONTH @ KEY SCHOOL October 5, 2015

THIS WEEK’S EVENTS/OCTOBER 5-11

� S - Monday, October 5

� Saturday, October 10

� C - Tuesday, October 6

� PTA Meeting from 7:00 - 8:30 pm in the li-brary: We'll hear from Michael Swisher from theArlington Partnership for Children, Youth, andFamilies, in an engaging session on gettingalong better with our children. Michael's mes-sage is always relevant and informative – hopeto see you there. Free childcare and Spanishtranslation provided.

� Friday, October 9

� No school - Parent Teacher Conferences

� Building is closed.

� Sunday, October 11

� Building is closed.

� Happy Birthday Debbie Diez!

� K - Thursday, October 8

� Early release: School ends at 1:26pm.

� Parent Teacher Conferences: Begin at2pm. Fall conferences provide parents with a

designated time to meet yourchild’s teacher one-on-one,and to share informationabout your child. Thisyear we have a com-

pressed schedule so eachconference will last only 15 minutes. Pleasecome prepared and help teachers keep to theallotted time.

� Key Community Clothing Exchange:Please bring gently used, clean, fall and winterclothes, infant through adult sizes, for this an-nual exchange. Clothes can be dropped ofMonday through Wednesday in Marta Gomez'

� Breakfast and Lunch for Teachers: Volun-teers are needed to donate items for teachermeals and/or to assist with set-up and clean-up.

Sign up online athttp://vols.pt/GKdM3Z.To make a monetarydonation to help offsetthe cost of the cateredlunch the PTA will pro-vide for teachers, you

can make a donation online atwww.keypta.org/conferences or drop off acheck made out to Key PTA in the main office.

� Friday folders prepared for each class-room

� H - Wednesday, October 7

� Walk, bike, or take the school bus toSchool Day: Key school is celebrating "alterna-tive transportation." Do not drive to school.Please participate!

� English Book Fair: (Room 207) 9am-5pm

� English Book Fair: (Room 207) 9am-5pm

� English Book Fair: 9am-5pm, Room 207.The Key PTA will host an English Book Fair

fundraiser October 6-9 at KeySchool. If you have been lookingfor an opportunity to help at KeySchool, this is a great time. Wehave one-hour slots where youcan help sell books which raisesfunds to support great activitiesthroughout the school for our kids

such as Field Day! We have shifts in the morn-ing and afternoon. We could really use yourhelp! Go to http://vols.pt/GuWy8H to volunteer,or contact Tracy Tressler at trunfola@gwu.edu.

Tuesday 11:10 - 12:104th Grade Flutes, Clarinetsand Saxophones

Wednesday 11:10 - 12:104th Grade Trumpets, Trombones and Percussion

Thursday 11:10 - 12:104th Grade Violins, Violasand Cellos

Tuesday 12:10 - 1:105th Grade Flutes, Clarinetsand Saxophones

Wednesday 12:10 - 1:105th Grade Trumpets, Trombones and Percussion

Thursday 12:10 - 1:105th Grade Violins, Violasand Cellos

� October 12: Columbus Day Holiday. No School.

� October 15: Reflections submissions due.

� October 18: Fall Fiesta

� Fall Fiesta is a great time to meet the Key family – teachers, staff, your kids’ friends, and

other Key parents. Volunteer to help with activities and/or to set-up/clean-up during this

festive social gathering. Families will participate together in games and activities, dance to

DJ music, and much more! It’s a potluck, so please bring a dish to serve your family plus

5-8 additional people. If you would like to help plan this fun filled event, please contact Tracy

Tressler at trunfola@gwu.edu and Valeria Bruyere at valeriahit@yahoo.com

UPCOMING EVENTS/WEEK OF OCTOBER 12

FALL

@KEY SCHOOL

BAND & ORCHESTRA SCHEDULE:

office, room 208. To volunteer contact Marta Gomez at 703-228-8915.

�Volunteers Still Needed for Friday Folders:

Every Friday during the school year,the students bring home a FridayFolder, which contains their schoolwork and important messages fromtheir teachers, the Key School admin-istration, APS, and the Key PTA. Fri-day Folders are assembled (generallyon Fridays) by parent volunteers (ex-cept for fourth and fifth graders, whodo their own Friday Folders). FridayFolders usually can be done starting asearly as 8:00 or 8:30 am and shouldtake no more than an hour (and oftenless time) to do the Fri-day Folders for a class.Room parents for eachhomeroom class willgenerally coordinate get-ting volunteers to do the Friday Fold-ers for their homeroom.

For the next few weeks, however,we will use Sign Up Genius to solicitFriday Folder volunteers. Go tohttp://www.signupgenius.com/go/5080449aba923aa8-October to sign up.

Some Room Parents may have cov-erage already for their classrooms. Ifso, we send you an email if you signup for a slot for which the Room Par-ent already has coverage. Here’s an ex-

planation of how to do Friday Folders:http://www.apsva.us/Page/23175. Youcan also send an email to CorinneNiosi, Key PTA Room Parent Coordi-nator at niosihibey@verizon.net to lether know that you can volunteer.

� Volunteers needed on the PTACommunications Team:

Do you like to write? Do you thinkit's important for our Key communityto be informed of what's happening atschool? Do you have some time everyweek or two to help collect informa-

tion and write articles for our school?We are recruiting writers, web design-ers, and listserv managers to help keepour communications strong. Pleasecontact Sara Bryant at sarakather-ine75@hotmail.com .

� Key School Annual PTA Auction- Planning meeting Tuesday, Oct.22, 7:30pm:

The PTA Fundraising team is look-ing for volunteers to support the An-nual Auction, scheduled for March

THIS MONTH @ KEY SCHOOL P3October 5, 2015

MARK YOUR CALENDAR!

Important dates in October & NovemberGet involved with Key volunteer

and fundraising events!� October 30: Halloween Parade Children come to school dressed in their Halloween

costumes. Volunteers are needed to walk with each class during this fun event. Key students willparade through Clarendon collecting candy and greeting neighborhood business folks. Parentsare invited to join in to hold hands while crossing streets, to hold doors open, and to hold ontodiscarded costume paraphernalia. Please come for th is fun event. Note: No weapons, includingtoy weapons, are allowed. Fifth grade band students will also play during the parade. Mr. Findleyneeds a few parent volunteers to help transport chairs and supervise set up and take down.Please contact Mr. Findley at john.findley@apsva.us if you can help.

� November 2: PTA Meeting from 7-8:30pm in the Library. Speaker: Dr. Lori Wiggins,Principal of Gunston Middle School. Dr. Wiggins has been at Gunston since 2012, and hasbeen an important asset to the APS Spanish immersion curriculum. She started her careerteaching in Barcelona, Spain, and taught three years of middle school Spanish. To read moreabout Dr. Wiggins, please visit http://www.apsva.us//site/Default.aspx?PageID=18218/

� November 3: Election Day. No School.

� November 5: Key School's Reflections awards reception.

� November 10: COGAT 4th grade.

� November 11: Veterans Day. No School.

� November 13: COGAT 5th grade.

� November 25-27: Thanksgiving Holiday.

� December 18: Pajama Day to Fight Childhood Cancer – PJammin for Mason LeachSuperstar Fund To show support for our nation’s children with cancer and raise funds to fightchildhood cancer, students and staff are invited to wear their PJ’s to school on Friday, December18th. We are asking for an optional donation of $1.00. All donated money will be given to theMason Leach Superstar Fund. The Mason Leach Superstar Fund was created in memory of aKey School student who lost his battle against cancer on October 13, 2007. The goal of the fundis to support existing programs at American Childhood Cancer Organization (ACCO). Thank youfor helping us honor Mason’s life, his incredible spirit, and supporting American Childhood CancerOrganization. To learn more about the Mason Leach Superstar Fund, please visithttp://www.masonleachsuperstarfund.com/index.html

VOLUNTEER

OPPORTUNITIES

Continued on Page 4

12, 2016. The firstplanning meetingwill be on October22nd at 7:30 in theArt Room at Key.

March may seem like a long way off,but the planning starts now! From so-liciting Auction sponsors, to collectingitems, there’s plenty to do. Contactfundraising@keypta.org for more in-formation or if you can help.

� Restaurant Nights:

Thanks to everyone who came outto support the first Key RestaurantNight, at Pete’s New Haven Pizza onTuesday, Sept 29. It was a great oppor-tunity to support Key while seeingfriends and having dinner.

Restaurant Nights are a joint part-nership between any local restaurantand the Key PTA. Key families andfriends are invited to eat at the restau-rant on designated dates and times,

and a percentage of the proceeds willgo to Key School. The Fundraisingteam plans to have several moreRestaurant Nights throughout theschool year.

If you have a favorite restaurantand would like it to be included inthis year’s plans let us know. Anytime you can give to volunteer will beappreciated!

Contact Amerine Woodyard (zacan-damerine@yahoo.com) or Gwen

Fitzgerald (gwen0176@hotmail.com)to volunteer with Fundraising!

� Key School PTA Membership2015-2016 School Year:

Please join the Key School PTA!Dues are $10 and they directly supportmany activities at Key such as FieldDay, scholarships for enrichment ac-tivities and extras for the classrooms.It’s easy to join online – please visitwww.apsva.org/domain/988. If youcannot join online, paper forms are inthe office. This is an annual member-ship – if you joined last year, you needto join again for the current schoolyear. For questions, contact HeatherSchildge: hschildgekeypta@aol.com.

P4 THIS MONTH @ KEY SCHOOL October 5, 2015

constantly. They wantto stay up late and sleep late. So, the idea of starting backto school really is wonderful.

But the forms are a nightmare! I dread the 3/8” thickpacket that I have to fill out the first night – Do I want theschool to contact my neighbor because they are close to ourhouse or our friends from church because we know thembetter?! And if there is an emergency, do I want my childto ride the bus home, or should I try and pick them up?!What did I decide last year? Arggh! And I need to do thatfor both kids. Double Arggh!

Well, this year I had a pleasant surprise: my forms werepre-filled for me. It was great! Last year, when my sonstarted 6th grade, I needed to get into the school’s database– Synergy – to monitor grades. The portal for parents to ac-cess the system is called ParentVue. While I was setting itup, I must have included all my contact information.

As a parent of an APS student, you can also log into Par-

entVue to enter your contact information. Additionally, youcan enter emergency contact information, your child’s doc-tor and dentist, insurance information, opt-out preferences,etc. This becomes the schools record on how to best contactyou and take care of your child in case something unex-pected happens. It also is the source for our school direc-tory, so if your information is missing or incorrect inParentVue, it will be wrong in the directory.

So please, go to https://access.apsva.us, click “Parents”and either create an account or log in so you can enter your"Student Info". To set up your ParentVue account you willneed an e-mail address and an activation code. Your Acti-vation Code is provided by the school. You should have re-ceived a letter in the mail at your home address containingyour Activation Code before the beginning of school.

If you have not received your code by the beginning ofschool, or if you have lost it, contact the registrar at Key:703-228-4210 or email teresa.montoya@apsva.us.

THIS MONTH’S TOPIC | Continued from Pg. 1

Continued from Pg. 3VOLUNTEER

OPPORTUNITIES

Go to http://www.apsva.us/Page/23175 for current Key School PTA volunteer opportunities!!

Parents, please talk with your child about

Who are people you respect at school? Who are people you respect in your community? Talk to an adult in your house about whoyou respect and why.

The Question of The Week for Responsive Classroom